Monday, September 19, 2011

Secret Recipe Club - Mississippi Mud Brownies

The idea of it is you are assigned a fellow food blogger each month, it is kept a secret of course, and you go to their food blog and pick a recipe (or more) to make. On the assigned date, everyone posts their creations and you go and visit and see all the goodies that were made. Sort of like a secret Santa, right?

I came across this recipe while browsing my assigned blogger, Melanie at Fabulously Fun Food. This was a new blog to me so I had a fun time browsing through all of her archives for the perfect recipe to try. I had a few recipes in mind, like the Smothered Enchiladas or the Golden Macaroni and Cheese. When I saw the post for Mississippi Mud Cake I knew I'd found the one. It did not disappoint at all. It is super rich, gooey, sweet, chewy and delicious. After making these I have to say I think they are more brownies than cake, as they are very dense and rich. My little change was to rename them brownies instead of cake. :)

One thing I really appreciated about Fabulously Fun Food is that Melanie openly shares her experiences with good and bad recipes. At the same time, she isn't mean about it. Constructive criticism on how to improve the recipe is a great attribute. I have seem my fair share of food blogs that are outright mean and rude when a recipe doesn't turn out how they'd like. Often times, it isn't even the recipe at fault, it is all of the 'alterations' or mistakes the cook made. That is one of my pet peeves. I don't like it when bloggers are mean to each other. Can't we all get along? *wink*

Ahhmazing. Ready for the recipe?

As I tend to do with my Secret Recipe Club assignments, I went a little overboard with the amount of pictures. I don't think you will mind, though.

Notes:

I halved this recipe and baked it in an 8" x 8" glass baking dish that was liberally sprayed with baking spray (The kind with flour in the spray). Alternatively you can butter the dish and dust with cocoa powder.

The original recipe called for homemade chocolate frosting but I substituted premade frosting, which I don't mind at all. If you are anti-prepared frosting, feel free to make yours from scratch. The frosting recipe can be found here.

Originally the pecans are added to the cake batter, but I preferred to have them on top. Do whichever you prefer. They can be omitted if you have nut allergies in your family or if you just aren't a fan of nuts in baked goods. They do add a great flavor and crunch so I recommend adding them.

1. Whisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour. Pour batter into a greased and floured 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan.

2. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; top warm cake evenly with marshmallows. Return to oven, and bake 5 minutes. (If you use a different size pan you will have to adjust cooking time. Just keep an eye on it and keep checking for doneness).

3. Remove cake from oven and cool completely. You can transfer the cake to thefridge once the pan is cooled enough. (Don't put a hot pan in a cold fridge).

4. When ready to serve, microwave the chocolate frosting for 30 seconds and stir. Spread the frosting over the cake, then garnish with chopped pecans. Using a sharp knife that has been sprayed lightly with Pam, cut into squares.

Source: Slightly adapted from Fabulously Fun Food and The All New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

Your pictures are drool-worthy! Thank you for being so kind. It's also nice to know that someone else prefers the nuts on top instead of inside the brownies! I like the idea of adding the pecans on to the very top instead of under the marshmallow layer. I'll do that the next time I make these!

Chocolate! Those looks absolutely mouth watering and delish. Your photography is beautiful and I love the up close and personal relationship I get with that brownie. I'm definitely making.So glad we are in SRC together! :)